The Bartels Reefing Furler (cont'd)

image of 2-part spar sectionimage of front spar sectionimage of rear spar section
The luff spar/foil is actually a two-part aluminium 'aerofoil' section (above, left). The front part (above, centre) is just 16mm across at its widest point and is hollow in the centre to house the supplied forestay, which is enclosed in a plastic sleeve, thus isolating it from the spar (below, left), avoiding galvanic corrosion, and maintaining a tight fit, which also contributes to the overall stiffness of the spar. The rear part (above, right) of the spar slides into the front part and has a concave slot at the back to hold the leading edge of the sail. When fully assembled the two sections of the spar together measure 23.5mm from front to back. The slim nature of the spar and its aerofoil section should help to minimise any loss of performance compared with a conventional sail.

image of forestay in spar sectionimage of cutout in sparimage of end cap

image of top of sparimage of spar head components
At the lower end of the spar there is a cut-out (above, centre) to allow the sail to be fed into the luff groove, and at each end a sort of cap fits over the end of the spar (above, right). The sail is attached at the head and the tack by a small ring welded to each of these end caps. This is illustrated in the photo (left), which shows the top of the spar, the end cap (with black rope attaching the sail to the ring) and the top swivel (described below).

A robust clevis pin passes through the end cap, forestay terminal and top swivel. The photo (right) shows all three components, separated for clarity, with the red line showing where the clevis pin fits.




image of mast and halyardThe supplied length of the spar (over 4500mm) is more than adequate for a Wayfarer genoa, but there is still plenty of room between the genoa halyard mast sheave and the top of the spar (see photo, right). This is the gap that would be spanned by a safety wire, if fitted.

Incidentally, the aluminium profile only comes in lengths up to 2m, so obviously the spar has to be supplied in several lengths. They are pre-cut to the exact total length required to match the supplied forestay, and cannot be shortened without replacing the forestay.


next page - the Top Swivel